Orbion Secures $9.2 million in new Financing Round led by Material Impact

Orbion Space Technology, a Houghton-based startup, has raised $9.2 million in its Series A financing round. The financing round comes at a time when the demand for plasma thrusters for satellites is high.

The funding round was led by Material Impact, a Boston-based VC, Orbion confirmed on Wednesday. Other VCs such as Invest Detroit, Ann Arbor Spark, Boomerang Catapult, Invest Michigan, and Wakestream Ventures also participated in the funding round.

The fresh capital will help the startup grow to fulfill the rising demand of the commercial industry and government agencies.

In 2018, Orbion unveiled its plans to commercially roll out Orbion Aurora system, a plasma thruster, for small satellites including a few private and public space operations. Once the plasma thrusters are ready to use, it aims to cut down the delivery time from six to eight months, before delivering to the customers within six to eight days.

Earlier, the startup raised 1.36 million in a private seed round and bagged prize money worth $500,000 at an event in Detroit.

Just as SpaceX was successful in cutting down launch costs, Orbion is eyeing to take a technology that was once only could be afforded by the elites,  are capable of spending millions of dollars for lofting big, car-sized satellites into space.

The new funding round is very important for Orbion in terms of operations and sustainability.